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Georgia
About Georgia
Where did the name Georgia come from?
Georgia was named to honor King George II of England, who signed
the royal charter which established the colony of Georgia in 1732.
[Source: Krakow, Kenneth. Georgia Place Names. Macon, GA: Winship
Press, 1994.]
What was Georgia’s population in 1776? How many
original counties did it have?
Georgia’s population grew steadily from 1733, reaching around
40,000 people in 1776. [Source: Coleman, Kenneth. A History of
Georgia. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1991, p. 54]
Georgia didn’t actually have counties until 1777. Georgia
was originally divided into districts and towns from 1732 to 1758.
From 1758 to 1777, Georgia was divided into twelve parishes. These
twelve parishes became the original seven counties of Georgia,
which include: Burke (St. George Parish), Camden (St. Thomas and
St. Mary Parish), Chatham (St. Phillips and Christ Church Parish),
Effingham (St. Matthew and St. Phillip Parish), Glynn (St. David
and St. Patrick Parish), Liberty (St. John, St. Andrew, and St.
James Parish), and Richmond (St. Paul Parish). Wilkes County was
the eighth county created on February 5, 1777 in the Georgia Constitution;
however, it was originally created on June 1, 1773 from the Treaty
of Augusta, when Cherokee and Creek Indians ceded the land. [Source:
Bryant, Pat. Georgia Counties: Their Changing Boundaries. Atlanta:
State Printing Office, 1983.]
When did Georgia become a state?
The last statement in the Declaration of Independence, signed
on July 4, 1776, is "these United Colonies are...Free and
Independent States." At that time, however, the word "state"
was equivalent to the word "nation". Later, on January
2, 1788, Georgia ratified the Federal constitution, and thus became
the fourth state in the new nation of the United States of America.
Georgia was also the third state to ratify the Federal constitution
unanimously. [Source: The Georgia Studies Book: Our State and
Nation (Athens, Ga.: Carl Vinson Institute of Government, 1998)
and The Georgia Official and Statistical Register.]
How many capitals did Georgia have?
Georgia has had several: Savannah (1777-78), Augusta*(1779-80),
Heard's Fort* and miscellaneous sites in Wilkes County (1780-81),
Augusta (1781-82), Ebenezer* and Savannah (1782), Augusta (1783),
Savannah and Augusta (1784), Savannah (1785), 1786-96 Augusta
(1786-96), Louisville (1796-1806), Milledgeville (1807-1864),
Macon* (1864-1865), Milledgeville (1865-68), 1868-present Atlanta
(1868-present). [* Temporary meeting sites of state government]
For more information, please see The Story of Georgia's Capitals
and Capital Cities by Edwin L. Jackson at the Carl Vinson Institute
of Government at the University of Georgia.
